


The Annabeth Incident

by Grey_eyed_Birdie



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-05 17:23:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16371896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grey_eyed_Birdie/pseuds/Grey_eyed_Birdie
Summary: There's a first time for everything, including that one time all your mortal friends find out about your demigod girlfriend.





	1. The Annabeth Incident

Friday, last period was always the worse there's no doubt about that. Paul looked around the room and saw his students drifting off. Some had their heads on the table, falling to sleep. Some were staring blindly at him, not listening to a word he said. Some were chatting or passing notes, thinking he didn't notice. He looked to the back and saw a small group of five chatting away. Those were his favorite students. He knew he shouldn't have favorites but those five were practically family. First there was Kyle, Paul's honey headed and blue eyed nightmare. He was frequently visiting Paul's house and dragging his stepson to parties and mischief but Paul liked the guy anyway. Next to him was Stacy, his black haired, amber eyed girlfriend, one of the sweetest girls Paul had ever met, who seemed to be stuck to her boyfriend. Then there came Eric, the tall, tough, brunet jock, he was in the swim team with Paul's stepson and was a very funny and amusing guy. Stuck to him was his girlfriend Michele, or Michie, a feisty, auburn haired, green eyed girl who always had the last word in an argument and never really seemed to shut up. The last of the group was Kara, a small brown haired girl who always seemed timid but Paul knew better, he'd seen her out of school and the girl was hilariously fun.

The teacher's eyes drifted to the person next to Kara. Normally Percy would try to pay attention in Paul's lesson for his stepdad's sake, but at the present time he was staring out of the window with a bored expression, not even noticing his chatting friends.

Paul looked at the clock and sighed. "Alright," he said raising his hands in resignation and looking back at his class. The students stopped what they were doing and looked up, even nightmarish Kyle and feisty Michie took a break from their argument. Only Percy seemed to ignore this, he was now frowning at the window and straining his neck to look at something outside.

"There are only five minutes left," Paul continued, "so I guess you guys can pack and chat quietly. QUIETLY!" he cried over the loud screaming that had already started.  
He sat back down on his chair and sighed once more. Five minutes left for the weekend.

"Paul," came a voice and Paul looked up at his stepson, now standing right in front of the teacher's desk, a wild expression in his eyes, sweat starting down his forehead. "I got to go."

"What? What's going on?" the teacher asked, concerned but Percy just shook his head.

"I'll tell you later," he answered charging out of the door, not bothering to wait for an answer, his backpack slung on his back and his hand reaching for his back pocket. Paul fought the urge to go after him.

He knew this meant trouble but he was also sure there was no way he could help. He looked back towards the back of the room and saw Percy's friends frowning up at him, the recent argument forgotten. Percy was known to run out of the room and disappear at random moments but everyone still thought it was weird.  
Not as weird as you could imagine, Paul thought.

(Ten minutes later)

It was so strange when Percy suddenly bolted out of his chair and out of the room but Eric was so used to him doing strange stuff that he didn't think it was worth worrying about, though Mr. Blofis definitely looked worried when they left the room.

"Let's go then?" said Michie, lacing her fingers with his and smiling up at him.

"Sure," he said, leaning down and pecking her lips.

"P.D.A!" someone cried to his right, he turned and saw Kyle laughing at them and the other two by his side, trying miserably to hide broad grins.

"Let's just go," said Stacy, the smile never leaving her face as she led the way outside.

They arrived at the door just as the first students were pouring out. They walked over to where their bikes were left in chains, just around the corner of the school.  
When they got close Kara stopped and pulled the others to a halt.

"What?" Kyle asked.

"Shh," she said, "I thought I heard something."

"It's probably nothing," said Stacy but then they heard a familiar voice coming from the side street. It said something like: "Did you hear that?" An unknown voice answered: "I think someone's coming." And then came the known: "I don't care." There was a muffled sound like a moan or a protest.

Michie frowned. "I know that voice," she whispered before stalking over to the bend. As soon as she turned to look at who was hiding beyond the corner her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "Percy?" she cried, making the others sprint to her side.

Sure enough Percy Jackson was standing there, messy haired and red faced, arms around a girl's waist, pressing her to the school wall, right under the window he'd been staring at only a few minutes before.

"Uh… hey… uh… guys…" he stuttered, releasing the girl.

"What the hell are you doing and who is this?" Eric asked.

"I happen to be his girlfriend!" the girl defended herself turning to the group. They had to admit she was seriously pretty.

She looked like one of those Californian bikini models, blonde, tanned, tall, only with slightly broader shoulders and tough posture. Her hair was tied up in a very messy pony tail, where Percy's hands had definitely messed even more, and she wore simple blue jeans, a bead necklace and an orange shirt which the group recognized as one of the ones they sometimes saw Percy in, nothing particularly sexy or attractive. Her eyes also ruined the image. As soon as she turned on them Kyle and Stacy took a step back, Kara gasped quietly and Eric and Michie flinched. They were scared and they admitted it. Her eyes were stormy grey and analytical, as though she was scanning each one of them for a weak spot where she could get to in a fight.

Oh, and the nasty cut on the left side of her forehead, where blood was smudged all over, definitely didn't give her a friendly look.

"Girlfriend?" Michie asked when she recovered. "What girlfriend, Percy doesn't have a girlfriend."

The blonde raised her eyebrows and turned back to Percy, who was now a few feet apart from her, eyes even wider.  
"Oh, doesn't he?" she said sarcastically. "Now that's good to know!"

Percy looked desperate; he looked back at his friends with a clear expression of well, thank you for settling my doom. At that moment a group of three boys walked by.

"Hey guys," said a tal tough-looking boy. "Who's this?" his friend pointed at the blonde girl.

"I'm Percy's girlfriend," she answered.

"Girlfriend?" said the third boy and all three started laughing. "Yeah right, see ya later then girlfriend bye people!"

"Bye Ralph, bye guys," the others called. Percy watched them walk away and then turned back to his girlfriend, she really was not looking happy.

"I didn't have time to tell them yet," he said.

"Camp ended a month ago," she answered back, taking a step towards him.

"Couldn't find the right time," he retorted, taking a step forward too.

"You couldn't find the time to say 'oh, by the way, I'm dating now!'?" she asked, staring him down and taking yet another step.

"Why do you always have to have an answer for everything?" yet another.

"You know why." One more.

"You won't stop will you?" then another.

"You know I won't," they were now so close their noses were almost touching.

"Still keeping to your promise, aren't you, Wise Girl," he asked with a smile.

"You bet, Seaweed Brain," she said, smiling back, the initial discussion not forgotten, but dismissed.

Michie cleared her throat as they were about to start kissing again and they jumped apart, remembering the reason why they'd stopped kissing in the first place.

"Oh, guys, sorry," said a blushing Percy, "uh… this is Annabeth, my… uh…"

"Girlfriend," the blonde supplied.

"Yeah, girlfriend… still not used to that!" he laughed.

"Well you better get used to it then, Seaweed Brain, or I'll just have to make you remember," Annabeth said smiling, though the threat was definitely not empty.

"I'll be sure to," the boy answered. "So these are Eric, Michie, Stacy, Kyle and Kara. Guys, this is my girlfriend, Annabeth."

"Hi!" said the blonde.

"Hey," the others answered.

"So you guys are Percy's… other friends?" It was more of a statement than an actual question.

"Other friends?" asked Stacy.

"Yeah, his… um… school friends." The girl answered smiling, Percy sighed nervously. Annabeth was finally meeting his school friends (a.k.a. his mortal friends) and nothing had gone wrong, yet.

"Yeah, we are." Michie answered.

"So, what kinds of mischief does he get you into?" she asked and Percy nudged her arm. "What!?"

"Percy? Get me into mischief?" Kyle laughed. "I'm the one who's got to drag him usually, well, when we are out of school because in school Percy can take care of his trouble making."

"Percy doesn't get into trouble out of school?" the girlfriend frowned, "Now that's a first."

"What are you talking about?" asked Michie. "You mean Percy's a rebel and he hasn't told us?"

"Well he-"

"Get's into the usual, normal trouble like everyone else right, Annabeth?" he glanced at her wondering where she was going with this.

"Sure," she said, still smiling widely, "Normal trouble, like the time when we met."

There was a brief pause in which Percy and Annabeth seemed to communicate by looks and stares and glares and the others watched confused.

"So…" said Eric, slightly awkwardly, "how did you two meet?"

"Oh," said Annabeth and she started laughing, the others looked at Percy incomprehensively, her boyfriend just shook his head also not getting why. "That's a very good story, which Percy would definitely love to tell right, Seaweed Brain? Me, on the other hand, will be leaving. Only came here to say hi anyway. So, nice to meet you all and, bye!"

She started leaving but then turned back to her star struck boyfriend. "Oh, just one more thing, are we going out today or….?"

"Weren't we going to get a pizza after school?" Michie butted in, turning to Percy.

"Yeah, sorry, Annabeth, I-"

"No problem! See you later then!" and she walked away, well, jogged actually. As she did so though, many people had already left the school and saw the girl going by. Trust me when I say a girl jogging away smirking with a bleeding cut on her forehead is not a normal sight and will definitely get people's interests.

"Didn't she just hear what I said?" asked Michie scandalized.

"Yeah, Perce, sorry, but we already got something planned!" said Eric.

"Totally! The girlfriend can't just come here and take you away!" complained Kyle.

"Guys! Chill! Annabeth wasn't talking about now, she was talking about much later… night later I mean."

"She's staying at your place!?" asked Kara, who was thinking the whole girlfriend thing was already too much information.

"Well, yeah, for the weekend she is."

"Why?" asked Eric.

"Well she doesn't really live in New York, she goes to an all girl's boarding school here but she got permission to leave for the weekend."

"Why does she have to stay at your place?" asked Stacy.

"Because she's my girlfriend."

"Since when exactly? You really didn't answer that," noticed Kyle.

"Yeah, and when did she come into the picture, 'cause I don't remember any Annabeth." Michie pointed out.

"Yeah, you can't know her that long!" said Eric.

"Not longer than us, right?" asked Kara.

"Obviously not! Where did you meet, then? One of your other schools?" asked Stacy.

"No, he said she didn't live in New York," said Eric.

"Is she from that camp you go to? She was wearing the shirt!" said Michie.

"Calm down guys!" Percy laughed. "Let's just go to the pizza place and I'll explain… everything…"

"You better!" threatened Michie.

"Hey, guys, who was the bleeding blonde that just ran by be?" asked a guy from their class, Mark, as he ran towards them, his loud voice attracing unwanted attention.

Great, Percy thought, my peace time is over... okay, I never really had peace time...

And that was the first time his school friends met his girlfriend. The other students also managed to get a glimpse of the girl and find out most of the story later and the day was then known as the "Annabeth incident", the others prayed secretly that one day they saw her again as they were sure Percy didn't really tell them everything…


	2. Of Course she has a Key

One month.

That's all.

One month and a bit was all Percy managed to keep Annabeth away from his mortal friends.

In school people asked about her, out of school his friends talked about her, and, secretly, everyone prayed to see her, hoped to get more information on the grey-eyed blonde.

"So, when is Annabeth visiting again?" Michie asked one night when the group was together in Percy's house playing games and eating pizza. Sally and Paul had gone on a date so the teenagers took the place for themselves.

"No idea, why?" Percy asked, mind on the video game he, Kyle and Eric were playing.

"No reason," the girl answered. "Just curious."

"I think she's coming for Halloween, this friday, but I'm not sure. Mom will definitely try to drag her," the boy continued, oblivious to the fact that all the others (including the two playing the game) were hanging on his every word. "I guess she'll come, better than going over to Frisco anyway."

"Frisco?" asked Stacy.

"Yeah, San Francisco," Percy answered, "I thought I told you, her dad and stepmom live there with her two brothers but she doesn't go there much."

"Why not?" asked Kara.

"Not the best relationship with her dad."

"Great," said Stacy, "so most probably she'll come here."

"If she doesn't go to camp, yeah."

"Why would she spend Halloween in a summer camp?" asked Eric.

Suddenly Percy paused the game and turned to look at all of them. "You guys," he said, pointing at each one of them with the controller, "are very nosy. Too nosy for my taste. If she comes, she comes, that's my problem not yours. And even if she does, you're not guaranteed to see her because I don't know if I'll allow it."

"Allow it?" Came a voice from near the door. "When did you start thinking you get to control what I do, Seaweed Brain?"

Everybody turned and there she was. Annabeth Chase leaning on the door frame and smirking at them.

She looked quite different from the last time they'd seen her. There was no bloody cut on her head, for one, and her pony tail was a lot less messy. She was also wearing her school uniform, black jeans, white all stars and a polo shirt with the school's symbol on the pocket, and she had a large backpack swung across her shoulder.

"Hey, people," she said before closing the door and marching past them, into the house and towards Percy's bedroom, where she dumped the backpack and returned.  
Percy was still in shock when the girl reappeared in the living room, smiling at him.

"It's been a week and you don't even get up to give me a kiss?" She said, pretending to be mad. "Wow, I guess I shouldn't have come after all."

At the word kiss the boy was already scrambling to his feet and stumbling over to his girlfriend. The others watched still shell shocked.

"You should have said you were coming!" Percy exclaimed, dragging her to sit on the floor with his friends.

"And spoil the surprise? Of course not!" Annabeth answered.

"So you're staying for Halloween?"

"Damn right, I am!"

"Awesome!"

"Wait a sec!" Interrupted Michie, everyone turned to look at her and she waved a finger at Annabeth. "We were just talking about you and Halloween and then suddenly you show up and we haven't seen you in some time and Percy here still hasn't told us everything but there's really just one thing bothering me. How the hell did you get in here?!"

Percy burst out laughing, Annabeth smiled broadly and the others resisted the urge to giggle because they were thinking the exact same thing.

"Oh, it's actually really complicated, you know," said Annabeth.

"Annabeth, don't." Percy said halfheartedly, still trying to contain his laugh.

"But it is!" Annabeth said. "I used a very complex method called... Unlocking the door." And she held up a key chain with a silver key dangling from it.

"Wait, you have a key?" Stacy asked.

"Of course I have a key!" Annabeth answered. "Who doesn't have a key to Percy's place? I mean, it's me, Thalia, Grover, Rachel, Nico, loads of people. I think even Clarisse has a key to this apartment!" The blonde turned to her boyfriend who was looking at the floor as if remembering some terrible incident.

"Oh, she does," he said darkly.

"And who are all those people?" asked Michie.

"Well, Thalia and Nico are Percy's... Cousins, and the rest are his friends."

"Why don't I get a key to your apartment?" Kyle asked.

"Because you don't need one," Percy said. "They have keys because sometimes they need the apartment when I'm not here."

"Why would they come here if you're not here?" Asked Kara. "That's kind of against the point isn't it?"

Annabeth and Percy both glanced at each other and then quickly at the kitchen. Little did the others know that in that kitchen, Percy's mom kept a stock of ambrosia, nectar and emergency supplies for any demigod in need of assistance.

"Because they are nosy little kids, just like you." Percy answered and they all started laughing.

The teens had fun that day, eating pizza, playing games and talking to Annabeth. They found out many things about Percy that they didn't know and many things about his girlfriend that he didn't tell them. But still, there were some subjects that Annabeth didn't answer either and others that, without them noticing, she avoided or wound herself around.

Soon, night came and the mortals had to leave.

"Bye then," said Percy, "see you guys tomorrow."

"Goodbye, guys," said Annabeth, "it was really great seeing you again."

"Yeah," said Eric, opening the elevator door, "it was."

"Hey, I was forgetting to ask you!" Michie exclaimed before turning back to the couple by the door. "Are you coming to the Halloween dance on Saturday, Annabeth?"

"Halloween dance?" Asked the blonde while her boyfriend desperately pleaded behind her for Michie to stop talking.

"Yeah," the feisty girl continued with a grin, "our school always throughs a dance at Halloween. It's really cool, you have to dress up and there are these really cool games you can play there and the food is amazing!"

"Sound great!" Annabeth said, completely aware of Percy freaking out behind her.

"Percy didn't want to come but, as part of the organization committee, I feel the need to invite you because, you see, we can bring dates from outside school and I thought it would be good fun if you came."

"Sure, I guess I'll go," Annabeth answered, winking at the other girl.

"Awesome! Percy knows where it's gonna be, I guess we'll see you there!" Then she turned and jogged into the elevator.

"Bye!" Annabeth called before closing the door and turning to her boyfriend who was glaring at her.

"You did that on purpose," he said.

Annabeth smiled. "Maybe."

"You really are keeping to your promise," he said pulling her close.

"Of course I am," she said before whispering in his ear, "get used to it."


	3. The Halloween Incident

"Annabeth do we really have to go?" Percy moaned while he put his shoe on.

"Yes!" Came the excited voice of his girlfriend from the bathroom where she was also getting ready for the Dance.

What dance? Good High's annual Halloween Dance. To which Percy was being unwillingly dragged to.

"But do we really?" He pleaded.

"Yes, Percy!" Annabeth exclaimed as she came out of the bathroom.

Saying she was gorgeous wouldn't be right, although Percy thought she could never be less than absolutely gorgeous, at that moment she was stunningly...  
Hideous. Well, as hideous as Annabeth could get wearing a Corpse Bride costume and horrid, pale make up.

"You look amazing," Percy said as he rose from his bed and walked up to her, still holding one of his shoes.

"Amazingly dead, I hope, or all this effort was for nothing." She answered looking down at herself and pulling at the loose pieces of her dress. Annabeth hated dresses, she loved, however, that movie so she decided to just suck it up and put on the dress that she and Sally had gone out to buy. Consequently, making Percy have to dress up as another one of her favorite Tim Burton characters, Edward Scissorhands, one idea which he was not very fond of.

"You know, if you don't think you look horrible enough then-"

"We're going, Percy," the girl cut him off, a stern look on her face.

"But why?" He complained like a child while turning back and sitting on his bed again to put the other shoe on.

"Because Michie is in the organization committee, she asked us to go, she's your friend and I honestly think that maybe we can actually have a good time!" Annabeth exclaimed, hands on her hips, the costume only adding to her already menacing aura. "Don't you think we deserve it, Percy?"

"Yeah, Wise Girl, I do but a Halloween Dance? In my school? With my mortal friends? Don't you think that's a recipe for disaster?" He asked as he stood up and they left the room, heading for the door.

"Maybe, but, Percy, you alone are a recipe for disaster." Annabeth pointed out as they reached the living room.

"Good point," Percy mumbled as his mother came in from the kitchen.

"You too look hideous!" She laughed. "That's amazing!"

The two teens laughed before kissing her goodbye and heading out the door. Paul was a teacher at Goode and had volunteered to watch and help at the dance so he was already there.

"I still don't understand why we didn't just wear matching costumes," said Percy as he parked the car in the schools parking lot and started fiddling with the scissor gloves he had on.

Annabeth sighed, "because, for the fifth time, Percy, I like these characters and you didn't have any other good suggestions!"

"Fine, let's just get this over with."

The couple got out of the car and together walked to the school entrance.

"There you are!" Came a voice as they entered the entrance hall, decorated with bats, pumpkins and, for Annabeth's dismay, spiders. She held on tight to Percy's hand, stupid Halloween decorations. Well this is a Halloween dance, she thought, you should have known.

Michie came walking towards them from behind the counter where she and another girl were greeting students. "I thought you weren't going to show up!" She was dressed as a vampire, with fangs and all. If only she knew what they really looked like, the blonde thought remembering Kelli, the empousa, she wouldn't want to dress up.

"Yeah," said Annabeth, "it was kind of hard to get Percy here into his costume."

"Oh, I can imagine!" The other answered laughing. "I can't believe you actually managed to convince him to come!"

"It was that or Tartarus," Percy mumbled so that only Annabeth could hear.

"I have my methods," the girlfriend answered.

"Okay, okay!" Said Michie, hands in the air. "Spare me the details! Now come on! You're missing the dance!" She grabbed Annabeth's hand and while dragging her into the cafeteria called to the girl on the counter that it was now her shift and that she was taking a break for the rest of the night. The girl, dressed as a witch, didn't seem so pleased but stayed there none the less.

As the three of them walked into the cafeteria Percy noticed how it had been rearranged for the dance.

The chairs and tables were all pushed closer to the walls and had decorations on them. The food tables were at the back other than on the right and had now a diversity of Halloween themed sweets and cakes and delicious things, contrary to the normal and boring school food they usual held. A dance floor had been place in the middle of the enormous room and students were dancing all over it.

But the best were the decorations. They were truly amazing and actually would have been quite scary if Annabeth and Percy hadn't seen worse.  
Michie dragged them past students who greeted them and turned heads to look at the blonde dressed as Corpse Bride. They wound their way through people 'till they reached a table near the food where Eric, Kyle and Kara were sitting.

"Hey guys! Look who finally arrived!" Michie called when they managed to squeeze out of the dance floor.

"Percy, Annabeth, finally!" Eric exclaimed as they approached the group. Annabeth laughed when she realised he was dressed as Count Dracula.

"Where's Stace?" Michie asked looking around.

"Right here!" Stacy yelled over the music as she came over from the drinks table with five glasses of blood red punch precariously squeezed between her small, delicate hands. "Hey there, you two, finally!"

Annabeth smiled when she saw the girl was dressed as fairy, she thought on commenting on the fact that halloween costumes are supposed to be scary but seeing the girl's smile she decided otherwise. "Yeah," she laughed, "sorry for the delay but mister boring here took long to be convinced to come."

They all laughed, "I can only imagine," joked Stacy.

"Okay, okay," Percy shouted over their laughs and the music, "fine, we all get that I didn't wanna come! But I am here now, so can we please just drop it and try to have some fun?"

They all laughed, Kyle got up and put his arm around Percy's shoulder, his zombie costume already coming apart. "Kid," he said, "tonight I'm gonna teach you how to have a good time. This will be the party of your life!"

Annabeth and Percy burst out laughing and they all looked at them confused.

"That was just exactly what Travis said!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"Yeah, and we all know how that ended," Percy said, holding his stomach and breathing hard.

"What are you talking about?" Eric asked.

"Oh, nothing," said Annabeth, trying to contain her laugh. "Just a friend of ours who threw a party a couple of weeks ago and, well, let's just say it was the most epic party ever but it didn't really turn out the way we were expecting."

"That's putting it mildly," Percy commented.

Annabeth looked at him, eyebrows raised. "As if it wasn't almost entirely your fault!"

"No, no, no, no, no!" Percy cried, raising his finger at her, "Half the time I had no idea what was happening and the other half I was trying to help!"

"Trying being the key word here," Annabeth said to the rest sitting around the table.

"What the hell are you two talking about?" asked Michie.

"I told you, just a party," said Annabeth, glancing and smiling at her boyfriend. Indicating, obviously, that it wasn't just a party.

"Okay," said Kara, standing, her bloody mary costume seriously convincing, honestly these people put way too much effort for just a party, "let's get you two drinks then and after let's hit the dance floor!"

So they did, they drank and ate and danced and participated on every activity the dance had to offer, some were truly terrifying if you did not fight monsters worse than these every day. And all the while people talked about the shocking girl in the Corpse Bride costume Percy Jackson had spent the whole night with.


	4. The Thalia Incident

"Where the hell is he!?" exclaimed Michie.

School had already finished and there were maybe a few teachers in the staff room or in one or another classroom but other than that they were alone. Kyle, Kara and Michie had stayed after hours to finish a science project and Eric and Stacy decided to stay back with them.

Percy had gone home early that day, no one really knew why, but had promised to come back later to help them with the project. An hour had passed and there was still no sign of him.

"This is a group of four! Not three! I can't believe he's leaving us to do everything alone!" Michie complained.

"Maybe something happened and he couldn't make it," defended Stacy. "We don't even know why he had to leave early, after all."

"Yeah but he could have called, Stace," said Kyle.

"He doesn't have a cellphone," supplied Kara.

"But his mom has a phone at their place," Michie said impatiently. "He could have used that."

"Well, we can always call him," Eric suggested.

"Good idea, Eric," said Michie pulling out her cellphone. "Let's do this right now."

"Oh no, you won't," snapped Stacy taking the phone from her. "You'll only cuss at him. If anyone will call, I will."

"Fine, but put him on speaker. I won't say anything! I promise!" She added at the sight of Stacy's raised eyebrows.

"Alright," she said and looked for Percy's contact. She found his home number and called it putting on speaker.

After some five tones a sort of familiar girl's voice answered. "Hello," it said, some scuffling and background talking could be heard.

"Um, hi," said Stacy. "Can I talk to Percy please?"

"Sorry," said the girl hurriedly. "He… can't come to the phone right now." A crash was heard at the other end of the line.

"What was that?" Stacy asked.

"What was wha- ... Stacy?"

Stacy looked up at the others and raised her eyebrows. "Um, yeah," she answered.

"Hi! It's me, Annabeth!" said the girl on the phone.

Michie had a look of realization on her face and grumbled "Annabeth, obviously."

"Michie?" Annabeth asked. "That you?" There was another crash on the other end and some raised voices could be heard on the background but not loud enough to know what they said or who their owners were.

"Uh, yeah," she said. "It's me. Actually you're on speaker. Eric, Kara and Kyle are here too."

"Oh, okay," said Annabeth over the background sounds. "Hey guys."

"Hi," said the others.

"So, uh, can we talk to Percy?" asked Kyle.

"Um..." Annabeth took her time to answer. She seemed to have gotten distracted with something that was going on at her end. "He's sort of, um, busy."

"Well he shouldn't be!" said Michie.

"Michie!" exclaimed Stacy.

"It's true! He shouldn't have said he'd meet us if he had something else to do after school!"

"Sorry guys," came Annabeth's voice. "It's kind of not his fault."

"How can it not be his fault?" Kara asked.

"Well," Annabeth began but she never got a chance to finish. There was a loud bang from the other end of the line and a crashing sound as Annabeth dropped the phone. Some scuffling and grunting was heard and then they heard a new girl's voice say "I'm gonna pulverize you, Jackson!"

"I'd like to see you try, Grace," came Percy's voice.

"Will the two of you just quit it!" Annabeth cried. "If you want to kill each other, perfect, Sally will probably do you that favor. Look at the mess you've made! Now, Percy, your friends are on the phone. Can you please stop wrecking the apartment and go talk to them?"

They heard the sound of Percy scurrying over and picking up the phone. "Um... Hello," he said.

"Get your butt here, Jackson," said Michie. "Before I kill you." She took the phone from Stacy's hand and ended the call.

"Michie!"

"What?" she asked innocently.

****

Half an hour later the door opened and Percy stalked in. Apart from the cut on his lip, the bandages midway between his elbow and shoulder and the ever so slight limp on his right leg he was perfectly alright.

"What the hell happened to you?" demanded Michie as soon as he'd stepped inside.

"My cousin," he sighed and fell onto the chair between Kyle and Kara.

“Your… cousin?” asked Kara. “Wait, I’m confused. I thought your mom didn’t have any family, only you and Paul.”

“Yeah,” Percy answered distracted. “She’s from my dad’s family.”

All the others froze and looked at him. Percy never talked about his father. He’d given them the standard ‘he left when I was young and I almost never see him’ story and he always wiggled himself out of having to answer any questions about his dad’s family. The only thing they knew was that his dad was the one who wanted him to go to camp every summer. What the camp was and what he did there also remained a mystery to them.

“Your dad’s…? So you have an aunt or an uncle?” Michie tried out her luck.

Percy was so distracted picking at the bandages and trying to get over the aching pain on the back of his head that he didn’t notice where the conversation was going. He let out a humorless laugh “One?” he chuckled. “More like twenty.”

The others looked between themselves wide-eyed. Kyle smiled wickedly at Michie and both were immediately in on the plan.

“Wow,” Kyle started, “I’m sure it must feel like it. So your dad has a big family?”

“Yeah.”

“Lots of cousins?” asked Michie.

“Uhu…”

“How many?”

Percy frowned and looked up at their expectant faces. He realized he’d said much more than he wanted. “Oh, you know, lots. So, about that project.”  
The others sighed and went back to work. They knew that once Percy started avoiding questions that they wouldn’t get anything else from him. They worked for another two hours before Kyle started complaining he was tired and that they were basically finished.

“Come on guys,” he whined. “I’m hungry. I’m bored. Let’s stop.”

“FINE!” Michie gave in. “We’re almost done anyway. Kara and I can finish the rest later.”

“Finally,” Percy breathed and got up to start packing.

“Great, so pizza at Percy’s?” Kyle said as he got up.

“What?” Percy looked up alarmed. “No, not today guys you can’t go to my-”

“Perfect!” exclaimed Michie pulling her bag onto her shoulder and dragging Eric by the hand out of the room, the rest following.

Percy let out an exasperated sigh. “Perfect,” he muttered, “just perfect.” Then followed his friends.

****

When they were going up the elevator to Percy’s apartment the boy started to get fidgety. Or more than usual.

“What’s wrong?” asked Stacy, who always seemed to be the one to consider the other party’s feelings when one of Kyle’s and Michie’s plans were in action.

“Oh, uh… nothing,” he answered nervously. “It’s just… uh… I had a… uh… accident in the apartment earlier and I’m not sure the girls tidied it up yet.”

“The girls?” asked Kara curiously.

“Oh,” he seemed to remember he wasn’t supposed to say something. “Yeah, uh, Annabeth and, uh-”

“Your cousin?” asked Kyle.

He sighed defeated. “Yeah…”

All of them looked at each other. Michie mouthed ‘yes!’ and Kyle had an idiotic grin on his face, Kara giggled at Percy. “Try not to look too happy, will you?” he said as the elevator doors opened and he walked towards the door to his apartment.

He closed his eyes for a second, a pained look on his face expecting the worse, and opened the door.

“What the hell,” he said, clearly amazed and confused, and strode in, his curious friends right behind him.

The apartment was absolutely impeccable. In actual fact it looked cleaner than it had been in years. Percy looked around as if he had been expecting a nuclear bomb site and found the Garden of Eden.

“You really thought we wouldn’t have cleaned everything up by now?” came a voice from the kitchen. Annabeth was sitting on the table smiling triumphantly at them.  
“Seriously, Perce,” she jumped off and walked over to shut the still open door. “I thought you had more faith in me.”

“I thought you were gonna let my mom find it and kill me,” said Percy smiling a bit as she locked the door and walked back towards them.

“Yeah, I thought you’d had enough for one day,” she said nonchalantly.

“So is she gon-”

“ANNABETH ARE YOU TALKING TO YOURSELF?” came a yell from inside the apartment.

“I guess the answer to your almost question would be no,” said Annabeth holding back a laugh at the sight of Percy’s face. “No, Thals,” she yelled back to the voice.  
“Percy’s home!”

“Great! Time to make myself some fish stew with baked-”

“He’s got friends with him!”

The apartment was silent for a few seconds when a girl came walking into the living room. “Oh,” she said. “I guess I’ll leave that for later then.”

The girl was wearing black combat boot, blue jeans and a black AC/DC t-shirt. She was about as tall as Annabeth and her hair was jet-black like Percy’s. She wore black eyeliner making her piercing blue eyes stand out even more and her deadly look increase. On her head she had a silver circlet and her white parka was hanging on a hook next to the door.

“Hello, Percy’s friends,” she said only a hint of a smile showing on her face. “I’m Thalia, Percy’s cousin. But of course you’ve heard about me. Right, Percy?”

Her cousin swallowed dry. “Uh…” he started.

“Figured,” Thalia interrupted. “You Kelp Head probably never even told these assbutts you had a cousin, did you?”

“Maybe…” Percy answered an apologetic, kind of silly, smile on his face.

“Assbutts?” Kyle whispered to Eric.

“So,” Annabeth butted in, for some reason everyone noticed she had just avoided war from breaking out. “Thalia these are Kyle, Eric, Michie, Kara and Stacy. Guys, this is Thalia, Percy’s cousin, who really was just leaving, right?” she eyed Thalia pointedly.

“Right,” she said convincing no one. “Yeah I got some things to do. Gotta go… visit dad.” She gave Percy and Annabeth pointed looks and both of them bit back their laughter. “See you two at night, if I can still crash here…?” it wasn’t a question.

“Course you can, Thals,” Percy answered walking her to the door and handing her the parka. “Mom wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“I know,” she answered. “Bye Percy’s friends. See you later Kelp Head, Annie.”

“Don’t call me Annie,” Annabeth called to her retreating back.

“See ya later, Pinecone Face,” said Percy, and everybody could swear they heard him mutter ‘stupid lightning’ and shudder as he closed the door.

“Does anyone smell burnt flesh?” Kara asked and Annabeth couldn’t hold it in. She burst out laughing while Percy muttered irritated. 

“That’s ‘cause it wasn’t you,” he said and turned to face his very confused and very curious friends. This was gonna be a long, confusing, unwanted talk…  
Which he would definitely bullshit his way through.


	5. The Big Three Incident

Percy was really beginning to fully understand his luck was completely none-existent. The next day not only was Thalia and Annabeth still in his house when his friends decided to randomly drop by but so was Nico.

Now, Annabeth already wasn't the most helpful person every time she met Percy's friends. Thalia was just completely unhelpful. But Nico, Nico was another version of a sign that read DEMIGOD in fluorescent red with green arrows pointing at it for emphasis.

"Percy, get the door," Thalia yelled.

"Thals, I'm sitting right next to you, you don't have to yell," Percy answered as the doorbell rang again.

"Percy, can you just get the door?" Nico said from where he was perched on the armchair.

"Why don't you get it?" Percy argued.

Annabeth, who was sitting on the sofa between Thalia and Percy just sighed and got up. It was bad spending the night in a house with two children of the Big Three. The arrival of the third one only made the possibility of World War Three more imminent. Actually, did she say possibility? Because it's just a matter of time before the three of them start it.

"Hey, Annabeth," Michie greeted her when she opened the door.

"Hi, Michie!" Annabeth said blocking the view of the living room with her body and the door. "Hi, guys," she greeted the others. Of course they were all there. Why do these kids travel in a pack? She thought. "Whatcha doin’ here?" She asked.

"It's Saturday," Eric answered as if that explained everything. Annabeth just frowned in confusion so he continued. "Every Saturday we rotate hanging out in each other’s houses. Each Saturday a different house, unless we already have something to do. This weekend is Percy's turn."

"Oh," said Annabeth. She glanced back inside at the three cousins who were still watching TV intently, not even bothering to ask who it was at the door.

"You gonna let us in or what?" Michie asked.

Annabeth turned back to the waiting people and sighed. “Okay,” she said before fully opening the door. This was not a good idea. She was tempted to tell them to not make any sudden movements. “Percy, your friends are here,” she called to him as she closed the door behind her.

“Uhu,” was all Percy said as he, Thalia and Nico kept watching the screen. 

“Who’s the kid?” Eric asked Annabeth as everyone took in the two on the couch and the kid on the armchair. 

Annabeth sighed again. “Percy’s cousin.”

“No,” Eric continued frowning. “Not the girl, we met her yesterday. The kid.”

“Yeah, I know. They’re both Percy’s cousins.”

The five of them slowly turned to look at Annabeth who sighed once again, shrugged and walked back to the couch to resume her position between Thalia and Percy. She flopped back down in between them and hit her boyfriend softly on the arm. When he turned to look at her she nodded towards the people standing in the middle of the living room and staring.

Percy suddenly sprang up. “Hi guys!” he said with evident forced enthusiasm. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s Saturday,” Eric repeated his previous phrase.

Percy sighed and ran a hand through his hair, scratching the back of his neck. Annabeth rolled her eyes at his obvious signs of nervousness. “Yeah, I know it is,” Percy said slowly. “But, it’s just that… um… My cousins are here and, uh…”

“And you want to spend time with them?” Stacy finished for him, always the life saver.

“Yeah!” Percy exclaimed thankful for the excuse. Once again, Annabeth rolled her eyes. By the look in Michie’s face she was gonna protest in three, two…

“Hell no!”

Bingo.

“You’re not gonna just kick us out!” she objected.

“But my cousins are here!” Percy argued.

“Well then it’s rude of us not to say hello,” before Percy could do anything the green-eyed girl stepped around him and walked over to the other three, standing right in front of the TV.

“You’re blocking the TV,” was all Thalia said.

“Hi, I’m Michie, we met yesterday.”

“I’m Thalia but what does that have to do with you blocking the TV?”

It was just awesome that none of them were in good moods and neither Sally nor Paul were home. 

Michie just frowned and turned to kid on the armchair. “I’m -”

“Michie, yeah,” the kid answered. He looked about four years older due to the bags under his eyes. “I’m Nico. Wanna watch TV? The movie was actually kinda interesting before you stepped in front of it.”

Wow, this is so not goin well, Annabeth thought.

Shit, this is gonna end bad, Percy thought.

Why doesn’t she just move? Thalia and Nico thought.

Before any caos could break out Annabeth offered the newcomers drinks and pulled Michie with her towards the kitchen, the others following. “Do something!” she whispered to Percy as she walked by him.

“Don’t you guys have to, like, leave at some point?” Percy asked his cousins.

“Yeah, so?” they answered at the same time.

“Are you kicking us out, Jackson?” Thalia asked turning to him looking amused.

“Sort of, yeah,” Percy answered smirking. “I don’t want my friends caught in the middle of world war three.”

“Only because you know I’d win,” the girl said playfully.

“In your dreams, Grace,” Percy joked back.

“You two are so full of yourselves,” Nico said finally looking up from the TV. “Obviously I’d win.”

“Oh gods, did Death Breath just make a joke!” Thalia mocked placing a hand up to her mouth as if astounded.

“It wasn’t a joke and don’t call me that, Tree Legs,” Nico snapped back.

“Who are you calling Tree Legs, Bone Legs?” Thalia retaliated and Percy laughed at how stupid they sounded. “Don’t you laugh at me Fish Face,” Thalia turned on him.

“Woah you two need to chill for a second,” he said, hands up in mock surrender.

“I will when he does.”

“I will when she does.”

“Okay, I said do something, not make it worse,” Annabeth said as she walked back and saw that the three of them had stood up and were now facing each other, movie forgotten.

“We’re just kidding around, Annie,” Thalia said calmly.

“Yeah well we all know how you three ‘kidding around’ can end. I think all of us remember we are currently reconstructing the Iris cabin back in camp because of your ‘kidding around’.”

“Butch was so pissed,” Percy chuckled.

“Was?” Annabeth asked disbelievingly. “I recall him saying something about murder when you went back to camp.”

“Wait, what?” Percy asked, eyebrows raised.

“Poor kid,” said Thalia, a smirking and holding back a laugh. “You actually thought that out of the three of us you wouldn’t be the one to blame.”

“Hey, I didn’t start that one!” the son of Poseidon complained.

“Too bad, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said smiling slightly. “Something goes wrong and people just naturally assume you’re involved.”

“That’s just because he always is,” Nico muttered.

“I’m involved but it doesn’t mean I started it! Or shall we remember who started our first little fight,” he snapped turning to Thalia.

“Oh come on! You were about to throw a tsunami on me!” she retaliated.

“You shocked me and I flew backwards ten feet into the water!” he argued.

“I said I didn’t mean to do it! You’re the one who continued! Besides, we all know if the Oracle hadn’t shown up I totally would have blasted you to Hades.”

“Excuse me but I remember it a little different.”

“Then you remember it wrong.”

“I seem to recall I was about to drown you in the creek before the Oracle distracted me. You were the one who was standing there shaking in fear.”

“Very funny, Jackson.”

“I think so too, Grace.”

“Uh, guys,” Nico interrupted. “Not to stop this because I think it’s hilarious but there are mortals in the room.”

“Mortals?” Michie cried and Thalia, Percy and Annabeth quickly spun around to find all of Percy’s friends staring at them. 

“Well, I’ll leave you to deal with this,” Nico continued, walking towards the window. “See you back in camp, Perce. Annabeth, I’ll talk to you later about the stuff for the cabin and Thals are you visiting camp anytime soon? Chiron misses you.”

“Yeah, I’ll go when these two go,” Thalia answered, completely unfazed by the other people.

“Okay. Percy, say hi to your mom for me!” In the blink of an eye the kid was gone. Out the window maybe? But why? The door’s right there!

“Where did he go?” Kara asked completely confused as to what was going on.

“Out the window, he’s a weird kid,” Thalia answered before throwing herself onto the couch comfortably since she didn’t have to share it.

“Is that really your first question?” Kyle exclaimed. “How about: what the hell did you mean when you said ‘I was about to drown you in the creek before the Oracle distracted me’! What was that about!?”

“Thalia, we should go get that pizza we were talking about,” Annabeth said obviously indicating they should leave Percy to it while Percy’s eyes widened, obviously indicating he thought she would solve this for him.

Thalia meanwhile just answered “Nah, I think I’d rather stay and watch the show.”  
Which is, obviously, what happened.


	6. Explanations... sort of

“So?” Michie exclaimed. “Are you gonna answer Kyle’s question or not?”

“Yeah, about that,” Percy started.

“Look,” Annabeth called attention to herself because if, out of the three demigods in the room, she was the only one who could get them out of this. If she could. The children went and got themselves in a mess. Again. “What Percy meant was he, Thalia and Nico have been going to camp for a long time and, since they’re cousins and well, they fight a lot, they always get themselves into trouble.”

She took a breath, thinking fast. Percy watched her talk awestruck, wondering how the hell she was going to get him out of this one. 

“The Oracle is what we call our friend Rachel, you know her, no? Red head, always coloring something or covered in paint?” the others nodded slowly. “Yeah, well, it’s just a silly nickname she got in camp; I can’t even remember how it started. Can you?” she turned to Percy and Thalia. Percy shook his head quickly and Thalia just muttered “no, not at all”, an amused smirk on her face at how Annabeth was making this whole thing seem so silly and simple.

“The tsunami thing though,” Annabeth continued, “that’s just Thalia exaggerating although she did shock Percy, not as bad as he’s making it seem, obviously.”

“Wait, but why?” Stacy asked.

“Cause it’s fun,” Thalia said from her position on the couch.

“Let’s agree to disagree,” Percy muttered quietly.

“So you didn’t almost drown her…?” Kara asked cautiously.

“No!” Percy said sarcastically completely not convincingly. “Of course not! Why would I do that? It’s not like she blasts me with lightning all the time,” he added quietly.

“What was that?” Eric asked.

“Nothing,” said Annabeth mentally face palming herself for her boyfriend’s not so occasional stupidity.

“What about the Hades thing?” Kara asked.

“The what?” the three demigods said together. Percy’s eyes almost unnoticeably flicking downwards as though he thought the floor might open up and eat him.

“You said you’d blast him to Hades,” Kara explained. “What does that mean?”

“Oh,” Annabeth said before any of the other two could say anything. “That’s just an expression. Like I’ll send you to the grave or something. You know Hades, the Greek god of the Underworld?” three out of five nodded. “Yeah well blasting someone to Hades would mean like killing or sending someone to hell, get it?”

“Sort of…” Kara said frowning.

“And what’s an Iris cabin?” Eric asked.

“How much did you actually hear?” Thalia asked laughing lightly.

“You guys were talking about kidding around and reconstructing a cabin,” Stacy answered.

“So basically everything,” Thalia summed up.

“The Iris cabin,” Annabeth explained, “is just the name of a cabin back in camp. All of them have names of Greek gods, that’s where the whole Hades thing comes from. Like Percy’s cabin is called Poseidon, and mine is called Athena. It’s just somethings that’s always been there so we joke about it. So the Iris thing was that Percy and Thalia accidentally broke some stuff when we were building the Iris cabin and the construction is taking longer.”

Percy was impressed how Annabeth managed to tell a lie by mostly telling the truth, she made this whole camp thing sound so much simpler and less mysterious then Percy did. He always tried to talk as less as possible about camp so that he wouldn’t get caught in a lie or worse, in a truth, but Annabeth just talked about it so easily. That’s one of the millions of thousands of reasons why, to him, she was just the most amazing person in the world.

“That sounds fun,” said Stacy smiling a bit.

“I don’t believe it,” said Michie crossing her arms over her chest. “Sounds sketchy.”

“Why?” Annabeth asked calmly. Michie probably did believe everything Annabeth had just said, she was just trying to get them to talk more.

“Because it doesn’t sound legit,” she argued.

“It kind of does…” Eric said calmly.

“Shut up,” the girl snapped back.

“What else do you want to know?” Annabeth asked still remaining calm.

“Everything,” Michie said smirking.

“And that’s my cue,” Thalia said standing up. “Very fun watching this whole thing work out but I gotta go do some stuff before I crash back here tonight. Don’t you two dare lock me out again,” she said giving Percy and Annabeth the evil eye and Percy suppressed shivering slightly, he was almost sure she gave him a mini shock with just that look. “See you mortals later,” she said as she closed the door.

Annabeth closed her eyes and held her breath praying to the gods they wouldn’t-

“AHA!”

Perfect.

“I knew I’d forgotten something!” Michie exclaimed pointing an accusing finger to both demigods in the room. “What’s up with the ‘mortals’ thing because if no one explains I swear Kyle’s gonna start throwing punches!”

“What? Why me?” Kyle asked scowling.

“Shut up and go with it, moron,” Michie whisper-shouted. 

Annabeth looked sideways at Percy who had his face buried in his hands and thought for a minute; she would have to come up with a pretty convincing answer to that question. Fast.

Considering all the stress of the situation, Annabeth came up with an answer to that faster and easier than she expected.

“Well it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?” she said chuckling and glancing at Percy, giving him the ‘just roll with it’ look.

“No.”

“Not really.”

“Nope.”

Annabeth took a deep breath and looked at them as if they were missing the most obvious clue. “Guys,” she said, “in a camp where the cabins are named after greek gods and the campers say things like ‘go to Hades’ do you seriously think we wouldn’t have a nickname for people who aren’t in the camp?” she stared at them with raised eyebrows waiting for them to get it.

“Wait,” said Kara, “so you actually call anyone who doesn’t go to your camp mortals?” Annabeth nodded. “That’s not very nice.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t come up with it.”

“So if we’re mere mortals,” Michie looked as if she smelled something nasty, “what do you call yourselves?”

Annabeth and Percy shared a look. Percy wanted to laugh out loud so bad. Right that moment they were basically telling all the truth to his mortal friends and they didn’t even notice. “Demigods,” he said simply.

Michie and Kyle immediately started laughing, Stacy raised her eyebrows giving them a ‘seriously?’ look and Eric and Kara just stared with slightly confused, slightly amused faces. 

“You have got to be kidding,” Michie held her stomach as she laughed. “Do you seriously think that highly of yourselves?”

“Again,” Annabeth continued smiling, “we didn’t invent the names. It stuck though. If you’re a member of the camp you’re automatically given a demigod rank.”  
The two continued laughing and soon the other three joined in. Annabeth laughed lightly and Percy couldn’t help smile, though more of pride and amazement than actual amusement. He never thought he’d get out of having to explain the world of gods and monsters by doing exactly that and it made him want to pull Annabeth close and give her a big loving kiss.

“So,” Percy said and slowly the others stopped laughing one by one. “Is that enough knowledge of my life for one day? Hanging out with my girlfriend, meeting my cousins, knowing even what we call people back in camp, that’s enough huh?”

“Technically we met one of them yesterday,” Michie pointed out.

“Very funny,” Percy said throwing himself back onto the couch, Annabeth sitting next to him. “Can you leave now?” He stretched his legs onto Annabeth’s lap.

“Why?” Kara asked. “Your cousins aren’t here anymore.”

Michie made as if she was going to sit on the armchair Nico had occupied before. “Seriously,” Percy continued and she stopped to stare at him.

“Why, Jackson? Why can’t we hang around in your place too? It seems like everyone else in your life does!” she exclaimed crossing her arms and looking at him intently.

Percy sighed sitting up and looking at Michie. “Look, Michie, I’m sorry, okay? Seriously, I’m sorry you didn’t meet Nico or Thalia earlier or see a lot of Annabeth. It’s just- they have complicated lives okay? And I don’t see a lot of them either, especially those two because, you know, I’ve been seing a lot of Annabeth these days actually after we started dating and-”

“Percy,” Annabeth interrupted with raised eyebrows, biting back a smirk.

“Right,” he continued, “off topic. Anyway, when they’re here I tend to want to spend time with them you know. Sorry if that never included you guys it’s just that- well you saw what just happened. You’ve been here not that long and they’re already gone.”

“So we’re like family repellant?” Michie asked and Percy saw by her look that he wasn’t going in the right direction.

“No!” he went on. “Not at all, it’s the opposite really. They’re not people… people. Uh… I mean, well you get it.”

“They don’t many social skills,” Annabeth helped. “Thalia and Nico are the kind of people who take some time to get comfortable around people, even family and friends. They don’t stick around in one place for long either.”

“So it’s hard to get them to come here if there are loads of other people around,” Percy finished. It was partly true anyway.

Michie seemed to ponder that. “What about the other people? All these other friends you keep going on about.”

“Why? You jealous?” Percy smirked at her but her expression didn’t change. He sighed again. “Mich, they just don’t come here that often. They have keys in case they’re in New York because they don’t live here and I’m the one who lives closer to camp.”

“Right,” she said uncrossing her arms and walking back towards the others who were still standing watching the scene unfold. “Camp, camp, camp. We get it, Percy.”

“Michie, you can’t seriously be mad at me right now,” Percy said getting up and turning towards the girl who seemed to be leaving.

“I’m not mad, Percy,” she said pulling Eric along as she walked towards the door. “I just don’t understand why you seem so hell bent on keeping these two parts of your lives separate.”

“Michie!” Percy tried to call out but she was out the door. He turned to the other three. “You don’t… agree with her do you?”

“I don’t know man,” Kyle said looking as if he was thinking really hard on the subject. “She has a point you know. We always try to get you to talk about this stuff but it took us bumping into your cousins and your girlfriend here for you to talk and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have if they hadn’t helped and we hadn’t pressed on.”

“Yeah but-”

“I’m not mad at you either, man, just saying she’s got a point.” With that he turned to walk out the door after the other two.

“Stace-” Percy turned to the black haired girl.

“Don’t worry, Perce, they’ll come around,” she said. She came up to him and gave him a hug before going after her boyfriend.

Kara looked like she wanted to say something but she just gave him a small smile. “See you on Monday,” she said as she closed the door of the apartment.

Percy whipped around to stare at a very confused looking Annabeth. “What the hell was that?” he asked more himself than his girlfriend.

Annabeth’s face softened. She took his hand and guided him back to the couch. “How about we watch some movies, huh? Just the two of us and then tomorrow we can go over to camp and spend the day there. I’m sure on Monday everything will cool down and you can talk to them properly.”

Percy had the urge to get up and run after his friends and just tell them everything. The entire truth. He knew he couldn’t do that but he wanted them to know the truth about him, why he had secrets and why he lied. 

He looked at Annabeth trying to make him feel better and slowly leaned in and kissed her softly. He loved how they were not only boyfriend and girlfriend but best friends. She always knew what to say and what he needed. Slowly he pulled her on top of him as he lay back on the couch.

“That sounds perfect,” he said smiling at drinking in her smile before going back to kissing her.

He wanted to be able to stay like this forever but he knew he would have to go back to his problems later. He couldn’t shake the feeling he should tell his friends everything.

Someday soon, he thought, I could die and they’d never know… disappear with no explanation and they won’t ever know why.


	7. The Phone Call Incident

Monday morning came and Michie felt incredibly guilty. She knew she shouldn’t have said all those things to Percy. Sure, always felt really bad when he refused to tell them about the other parts of his life and sure, she felt incredibly jealous that his other friends seemed to know him so much better, be a much bigger part of his life. He also seemed to care a lot more for his other friends than he did for Michie and the others. She wasn’t sure why she thought that but she knew Percy had gone through a lot with his camp friends for that not to be true. Many times she had to remind herself that Annabeth and his camp friends knew Percy a lot more than she did and for way more time.

Considering all this, Michie knew she had a point. She knew she should have told Percy how she felt about all this a long time ago but she was also aware that the way she did it was not the right way. She was too harsh and selfish. Even worse, she made the others think the same and go along with her. Now all of them had these feelings towards Percy and it was her fault.

She knew all this the moment she left Percy’s apartment dragging Eric protesting behind her. She knew it as Eric tried to convince her to go back and when he tried to convince her to call him. It’s not that she didn’t want to call him, but her pride spoke louder. She also knew Percy would apologise when he saw them at school and even though she knew this was awful she decided it was easier to forgive him quickly than to say she was sorry.

Eric didn’t agree with her, they fought and he went back to Percy’s apartment the next day only to find nobody home. He also blamed himself for letting her drag him out. Kyle felt bad for agreeing with her. Stacy felt sorry for Percy but she couldn’t find it in herself to blame Michie for thinking the way she did. Kara didn’t know what to think. She came over to Michie’s on Sunday to confront her but didn’t have the courage. In the end, both of them sat on Michie’s bed talking about Percy, good and bad. This only made Michie feel guiltier but she held it in because she knew Kara needed it. Michie was the only one who knew how much Kara actually liked Percy and ever since the ‘Annabeth incident’ Kara had become a lot quieter, she didn’t need more worries.

“So, you’re gonna apologise, right?” Eric said as soon as she sat next to him in homeroom.

“If he apologises,” she answered keeping up appearances.

“We talked about this, Michie,” he said seriously.

“Yeah, Mich, I really think all of us should say something,” Stacy said sitting on her other side.

“As much as it pains me to say this, she’s right,” Kyle said from Stacy’s other side.

“Hey!” his girlfriend protested. He gave her what she obviously thought was a cute smile and she smiled back rolling her eyes.

Just as Michie was going to say something Paul, or Mr. Blowfis since they were in school, came in.

“Here we go,” said Stacy but the black haired boy that usually followed Mr. Blowfis didn’t come in.

Paul put his stuff down on his desk, as usual. “Good morning,” he said to the class.

After everyone answered with ‘good morning, mr. Blowfis’ Eric raised his hand. “Sorry sir,” he said, “but where’s Percy?”

Paul looked at them with a mixture of concern and disapproval. “Percy isn’t going to be in this week,” he said. “I won’t pretend I approve but I understand his reasons.”

“He’s staying home for the week?” one of the other students asked. 

“Uh,” Paul hesitated which made Michie glance around at Kyle who seemed to be thinking the same thing she was since he was already looking at her. “He’s visiting family.” 

Mr. Blowfis didn’t elaborate but they all knew that meant Percy was in camp. This made Michie feel even worse, not only because Paul called the camp people ‘family’ and she knew that’s exactly how Percy felt about them, but because she knew he went to camp for comfort because of what had happened. That’s why he wasn’t home when Eric stopped by.

“Typical Percy,” she said under her breath which she knew made her seem spiteful but she couldn’t help it.  
Eric gave her side glance but didn’t say anything.

****

“Call him.”

“He doesn’t have a phone.”

“I would say you’re making this up but since I know you’re right I’m gonna say you’re just saying this to piss me off.”

“You’re probably right.”

“Michie!”

It was lunch time and Stacy and Michie had been going at it since that morning.

“You’re just avoiding it, Michele,” Stacy used her full name just to annoy her.

“I can’t very well go after him, Donovan,” Michie called her by her last name to do the same.

“Maybe you can,” said Eric. “Let’s ask his step dad. Hey, mr. Blowfis!” 

The man in question was just walking by their table to go sit with the other teachers and eat his lunch but stopped to talk to them. “Yes, Eric?”

“Well, we all know Percy isn’t in school because of us so we were thinking if today after school we could go to where he is and, you know, talk to him.”

Paul gave him a sympathetic look. “That’s very nice of you, Eric but I’m afraid it won’t be possible. Even I can’t go visit the camp. I don’t even know exactly where it is.”

“Isn’t it in Long Island?” Stacy asked.

“Long Island isn’t exactly the smallest place,” Paul pointed out. He sighed at the look the kids gave him. From his wallet he took a card and gave it to Eric. “I shouldn’t be doing this but that’s all I can give you.”

On the card was written:

Camp Half-Blood  
Half-Blood Hill, Long Island, New York  
(800)009-0009

“Half-blood hill?” Michie asked reading over his shoulder. “That’s awfully vague.”

“It’s all I can offer,” Paul repeated. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go have my lunch. See you in class.” With that he walked away leaving the students looking at the card he gave them. 

“Well, there’s a phone number,” Stacy said triumphantly.

****

“Hello, may I speak to Percy?” Stacy said into the phone. She was voted the person least likely to lose her head on the phone.

“Who is this?” asked the person on the other end of the line. It was a sweet feminine voice.

“It’s Stacy; I’m a friend of Percy’s. Who is this?” Stacy asked. They had found an empty class room so that they could put the phone on speaker and all of them listen to the conversation. Michie and Kyle had sworn on their lives and everything they held dear that they weren’t gonna burst talking.

“I’m Katie, also a friend of Percy’s,” the girl on the other line giggled. “Uh, I don’t know if he can talk right now, I think he’s giving a class.” The others shared confused looks. “I can go get him if- Wait, how do you even have this number?”

“His step-dad, Paul, gave it to me,” Stacy answered honestly.

“Oh, well if Paul gave it to you then it’s fine, I guess,” the girl, Katie, paused for a minute. She seemed to be talking to someone at her end but they could only hear pieces of the conversation. “What? No… For Percy… I don’t know, she says she’s his friend… yeah, she… yes, I’m sure it’s a girl, her name is Stacy… Travis, can you just go get Percy for me please? … Sorry about that,” she said back into the phone.

“Who was that?” Stacy asked.

“Travis Stoll,” Katie said and Stacy could hear the eye roll. “He’s gonna go get Percy for you guys.”

“Oh, thanks for that.”

“No problem,” Katie seemed like a very nice girl. There was more talking on the other end of the line but this time they couldn’t hear what was being said. They heard some shuffling and muffled voices and then a different voice came on the phone.

“Who’s this?” it was still definitely a girl’s voice but the attitude was something else entirely.

“I’m Stacy, I’m calling for Percy,” Stacy said a little hesitant and nervous.

“What do you want with Jackson?” the girl didn’t seem to have much of a patience. Stacy glanced at Michie who had her eyebrows raised and seemed to be itching to grab the phone.

“I’m his friend,” Stacy continued patiently, she had enough experience with Michie to know how to keep calm.

“Did he give you this number?” the girl said accusingly.

Stacy sensed if Percy had done that he would be in big trouble. “No, his step-dad did.”

“Paul should have known better,” the girl said but still she seemed to have deflated a bit after having confirmation Percy wasn’t out of line this time. They could here Katie saying something in the back ground and then a male voice and some laughing. “Shut up, Stoll,” the girl on the phone said.

“Uh, excuse me but what’s your name?” Stacy asked as politely as she could, trying to make friendlier conversation with this girl.

“Clarisse,” the girl answered. “And you better hang up ‘cause Jackson isn’t gonna come to the phone no matter how long you wait.”

“Why not?” Stacy asked before Michie could say what she had on her mind.

“Because, since he’s here, he has senior counsellor duties, which means he should be teaching but he didn’t show up and Jake Mason is covering for him,” Clarisse ranted. The way she said it made it seem like she’s been in this situation before. “I just sent Travis after Annabeth but I bet anything you want that he won’t find her either.”

Michie rolled her eyes beside Stacy.

“Um, that’s okay,” Stacy said. “Well, if he can’t talk now do you think we could stop by some other time to talk to him? We were told he was staying there the entire week.”

“No way,” Clarisse said simply.

Stacy was about to start arguing when conversation broke once again on the other side of the line. There was some muffled arguing and the phone switched hands once again.

“Stacy?” it was Annabeth’s voice.

“Finally someone I know,” Stacy sighed. “Annabeth can I talk to Percy? We just want to apologise for what happened on Saturday.”

Annabeth hesitate. “I’m sorry, Stacy, it’s just that I-I don’t know where Percy is. I’ve been looking for him since this morning.”

“Oh,” Stacy wasn’t sure if she was lying because Percy actually didn’t want to talk to them but Percy wouldn’t do that. “Is he gonna be okay?”

“Oh, yeah,” Annabeth said but there was a slight hint of worry in her voice. “He’s probably just walking around somewhere or swimming so distracted he forgot to look at what time it is. I’ll ask him to call back when we find him.”

“Sure, thanks Annabeth,” Stacy said saying goodbye before Michie could say anything. The girl was biting the inside of her mouth to stop herself interrupting. “Well then, now we wait,” she said to the others.


	8. The Disappearance Incident

During winter break time seemed to go by slowly. Stacy, Kyle, Eric, Michie and Kara spent a lot of time together since all of them stayed in New York. Even though Christmas and New Year’s came by none of them were in a festive spirit.

“Happy New Year,” Kyle said as he and Stacy sat back down at their table. A guy from their school threw a New Year’s party every year and that’s where they agreed to spend it this year.

“Have a great year guys,” said Stacy happily trying to brighten the mood around.

“Yeah, you too,” Kara muttered.

“Come on, guys,” said Michie. “We can’t just sit around and mope! It’s a New Year! New dawn, new day, new life, right?”

“You did not seriously just say that,” Eric stared at her disbelievingly. He and Kara had been the ones to take it worse, though for different reasons, of course. All of them missed their friend way too much but there was nothing they could do if Percy refused to go back to school for the last two weeks of the semester and didn’t return their calls throughout winter break. All of them had called camp a couple times, even if they didn’t tell the others, but no matter who the person at the other end of the line was they always answered with ‘he can’t come to the phone right now but I’ll tell him you called’ and refused to pass the phone to Annabeth.

“Guys we can’t keep on like this forever!” Michie continued. “We have to have fun and just accept that he doesn’t want to talk to us or something. Maybe it’s not even that, maybe something happened and he just has to figure it out before coming back to school.” No matter what the others felt, Michie felt the guiltiest. She told herself again and again that something else was going on, that this wasn’t just about what she said but she couldn’t convince herself. She wished Percy would come back and she would even consider actually apologising if he did!

“I just wish they would tell us what’s going on,” Kara muttered. She was talking about Sally and Paul. Both of them refused to tell them anything other than “he’s visiting family” or “he’s dealing with some family problems” which didn’t clear up anything. You could see it in Sally’s eyes she was holding back tears and Paul acted as though everything was okay but recently he had developed some nervous habits.

The rest of winter break went by slowly. Stacy started to notice that the usual trouble and mischief they got themselves was actually linked with Percy. Everyone always said Kyle was the one who dragged him to trouble but her boyfriend didn’t seem excited to wreak havoc as much as he usually was when Percy was around. All of them started to wish winter break ended as soon as possible.

****

“And hell begins again,” Kyle said as he sat down in home room.

“Oh, stop being melodramatic,” Eric rolled his eyes as he sat next to him.

“Dude, seriously, this year we gotta get out more,” Eric rolled his eyes again at his friend. “This year we have to be productive, we can’t just hang around each other’s houses and watch movies eating pizza.”

“But that’s kind of our thing, isn’t it?” Eric argued. “I mean sure we can go out more and stuff but movie nights are everything, you know.”

“Yeah, sure. It’s gonna be everything without Percy,” Kyle wasn’t normally mean but the way he talked showed the resentment he felt towards one of his best friends having disappeared without any explanation.

Before Eric could say anything, Mr. Blofis came in.

Now, every day for more than two years, they had seen Paul Blofis walk into homeroom, smile on his face, give them a cheery ‘good morning’, check who was present and who wasn’t, say ‘see you later’ to the people who had English class with him and ‘see you tomorrow’ to anyone who didn’t. This day was different.

Paul walked in, bags under his eyes, sat at his desk and said a half-hearted ‘good morning’ to the class. Kyle and Eric frowned at each other. “He looks like he’s been run over by a truck a few times,” Kyle said.

“Kyle!” Stacy scolded from the seat on his other side. “Don’t be mean, he looks like he hasn’t had a good night’s sleep for a while.”

“He looks like he hasn’t had a good night’s sleep since he was born,” Michie said watching the teacher as though he was going to collapse any second.

Apparently everyone in the class was thinking the same as Mark’s hand slowly rose. “Sir? Are you alright?” he asked.

Paul looked up carefully and though about what he was going to say. He couldn’t tell them the truth but he knew after a while all of them would know something was wrong. Paul had spent his entire winter break worrying, comforting Sally and worrying some more. He didn’t know what to do or even if he could do anything. It didn’t seem possible that someone could just disappear without a single trace.

During the break, Paul had met some new people. People, or rather, demigods, who were simply too young, in Paul’s mind, to be handed the responsibilities they burdened themselves with. Paul’s step-son being one of them. Except Percy did that without anyone having to tell him. He was the kind of person who assumed he should be the one to take care of everyone and somehow, until now, he’d done it.

But now they had to save him. If they can find him, he thought. He would never say it aloud so Sally wouldn’t hear it and become even more worried but he kept thinking it. He didn’t know if Percy would come back from this one and he was trying to mentally prepare himself for that because he knew what it would do to Sally.

“I’m fine,” he answered Mark’s question. “My break just wasn’t too relaxing, that’s all.”

“Sir,” said Kara looking like she couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Where’s Percy?”

Paul looked around and saw his entire class looking back at him with worried looks. He had been worried about this moment and what he was going to say. He had rehearsed different versions of what he would say; some of them didn’t seem realistic even for him. Annabeth, who had been visiting almost every day, and Sally helped him figure out a plausible excuse.

Paul sighed; he had to play this right. “This isn’t really for me to say,” he told the class, which made them look even more confused and curious.

“Sir,” Kyle said and Paul could see he was holding himself back from just going ‘dude what the hell just tell us where the fuck our friend is’. “I’m sorry but, Percy hasn’t been to school since before break so we’re kinda worried. Couldn’t you just tell us and spare everyone of being curious and you of having to dodge this question every day?”

Paul couldn’t help but be amused at how he could actually be convincing if he wanted. “Well, alright.”

He saw everyone in class physically lean forward.

“I told you before break Percy was visiting family and that’s why he wasn’t here. That was true, he was visiting some family. His aunt decided he should do that so that’s what happened.”

“But why?” Michie butted in earning a glare from Stacy.

“Because,” Paul continued, this is where it would get difficult and he’d have to lie because technically his Auntie Hera really did just decide he should go away, “Percy lives with his mother and, other than his cousins, he doesn’t see much of his father’s side of the family. He usually only sees his father on his birthday.”

“Wait, doesn’t his father miss him or something?” a student, Jared, asked.

Paul sighed and ran his hand through his hair, being uncomfortable wouldn’t be out of character so he didn’t have to hide his emotions. “Of course he does, but Percy’s father is a… busy man. He travels a lot and, I would never let Percy or Sally hear me say this, but his father doesn’t really have time to prioritize Percy. As his friends you probably know how he doesn’t like talking about his family well, now you know why and I’m sure I shouldn’t be saying this, especially to you, but it’s the truth. His father hasn’t been there for Percy much so spending this time with him and his family will probably do some good for their relationship.”

He could see some of the students looked uncomfortable so he hoped they’d stop asking questions. This, of course, meant Eric raised his hand. “Sir,” he said.  
“Doesn’t Sally miss him though? I mean, he has been away for weeks now.”

“Of course she misses him but she knows how important this is.” Oh, how he wished this was true.

“Do you miss him, Sir?” Stacy asked.

“Obviously,” Paul answered, he didn’t think he’d ever missed anyone as much. Maybe this was because none of them knew if Percy was alive though. “But we get updates from time to time and we hope he comes home soon.”

“Wait,” Michie said and Paul knew he was going to have to improvise. “From time to time? You hope he comes home soon? Haven’t you talked to him? Don’t you know when he’s coming back? I mean, he has to! There’s school and he can’t just not tell his mom where he is or what he’s doing!”

Paul sighed again; he felt like either he shot them down or they would keep on asking and asking and he would eventually get caught in a lie. “Michie, not only does Percy not own a phone but his father’s place does not have good reception and Sally and I agreed not to interfere in this. Also, I don’t think Percy’s education is more your business than it is his mother’s. And Annabeth, his friend Grover and his cousin Jason have managed to get a hold of him and say he’s doing just fine.” That wasn’t a complete lie. Annabeth had been trying to contact him through dreams, Grover had the empathy link and Jason thought he kind of had an idea where Percy might be. He felt bad about talking like this to his students, to Percy’s friends, and he saw the shock on their faces but he couldn’t continue with this.

The bell rang but no one got up. “Have a nice day, everyone,” he said before turning to his computer. The students took their time leaving the class but Paul didn’t look up, he hated lying to them but he knew he had to. 

“Sir,” someone said. He looked up to see Stacy standing there. “I’m sorry about that. I know I also asked but I can see how this is really bothering you and I understand why it is. I just think we’re all kind of worried about him and you don’t have to tell me, it’s fine, but I know you haven’t told us everything.” She smiled at him and then left the class, closing the door behind her.

****

“I just want today to end,” Michie muttered to herself as she stuffed her books back in her locker at the end of the day. She wanted to go home and throw herself on her bed and only get up for food. The others were feeling pretty much the same way. As she got her stuff, Eric waited patiently beside her, they seemed to be at a better place since both agreed this had grown a lot more than just something Michie had said.

“You ready?” Stacy asked as she and Kyle walked over to them and Michie closed her locker.

Together, the four of them headed outside. They walked out the front door and started heading towards their bicycles when Stacy stopped them. “Hey, look,” she said pointing over to a girl leaning on the school wall seemingly waiting for something. They didn’t understand immediately why Stacy was pointing her out since they didn’t recognise her in normal school uniform, hair loose and no apparent cuts.

“Annabeth?” Stacy asked walking over to the girl. When they got close they noticed that the girl resembled Paul in a way. They remembered the first time they looked in her eyes, how they were powerful and intelligent, now they were sunken, tired, dull. By her posture she looked like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, she was leaning on the wall as if she would fall to the ground if she didn’t.

“Hey guys,” she said. Her voice wasn’t weak, it was as normal as it could get but still there was something hidden behind her eyes that showed how distraught she was.

“Hey,” said Eric looking slightly concerned for the girl. “You ok?”

Annabeth didn’t seem to understand the question at first. “Yeah,” she said. “I’m just waiting for Paul.”

“Why?” Michie asked. She tried to tone down her usual bitchyness because she could see the girl wasn’t all there even if she was sure what they saw was not even half of what she was trying to hide.

“I thought I’d stop by,” Annabeth explained patiently. “Since my classes started again and I’m in New York, I thought I’d drop by and check in on Paul and Sally.”

“Have you talked to Percy recently?” Kyle asked. Stacy nudged him for being so blunt but he just kept looking at Annabeth. The girl didn’t show any change in emotion or any hint of being caught off guard. Of course she was prepared to answer a question about Percy. Paul, Sally and herself had rehearsed this and she was prepared to bump into anyone and answer anything. She forced a smile.

“Yeah,” she said forcing a cheerful edge to her speech, by the looks on their faces they bought it. It wasn’t hard to be happier when talking about Percy, if she put the thoughts of his disappearance in a dark corner inside her head she could pretend he was safely having just another happy day of camp. She wished this was true. “Why?”

“We just wanted to know if he is alright,” Stacy said.

“Oh, yeah,” Annabeth faked. “I talked to him a few days ago. His aunt’s a bitch but his dad is pretty cool and he seems to be enjoying the family reunion.” Annabeth wasn’t even scared Hera would strike her down, or maybe she didn’t care. “Thalia and Nico are probably gonna go over there soon so he definitely won’t get bored.” 

That was a blatant lie, Thalia and Nico had no idea where Percy was.

The others exchanged glances. Annabeth’s story matched Paul’s exactly so they each decided that they were probably telling the truth.

“Well, can you ask him to give us a call or something?” Eric asked. “I mean we’re getting kinda worried with this silence.”

Just you? Annabeth thought. “The signal there is awful but if his aunt lets him use and abuse of the phone then sure, I’ll ask,” she said.

That’s when Paul appeared. At first he got scared that maybe the children were onto something but he saw Annabeth smiling at him and decided he needed to relax. 

“Hey, Annabeth,” he said getting closer. “Nice seeing you.”

“I just got out of school, thought I’d stop by and say hello to you and Sally,” the girl answered. She stopped by everyday these days but the students didn’t need to know or it would seem strange.

“Great!” Paul said. “Let’s got then, I’m sure Sally will be happy to see you.”

The two of them said their goodbyes to the others and left. Every student leaving the school watched Paul and Percy's girlfriend as they walked away. If they thought about it, they would come to realise they knew nothing about her. Though if they really thought about it, they didn't know much about her boyfriend either. And they obviously didn't know this would be the last incident where they saw Annabeth for months.

"Anyone want to grab a pizza and watch a movie?" Eric asked.

"Hell yes," Kyle answered smiling. Maybe it would be sometime before Percy came back but at least he was ok and they would hear from him soon.


	9. The Percy Incident

On the first of September everyone was excited for the beginning of the school year. To see their friends again, talk about the holidays, even the teachers were missed. A lot had happened months ago, a lot of things were left unanswered and they weren’t forgotten but they were definitely at the back of everyone’s minds.

The corridors were full of smiling chatty people walking to their first classes, getting their things and catching up.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Michie said as she jumped onto Kara’s back, both of them heading to homeroom. “How was your holiday? Should I even ask? A month in Italy has got to be the best thing ever, no?”

Kara laughed. “Yeah, it was pretty great.”

They both walked in and said hi to Mr. Blofis. “Good morning, girls,” he said, a cheeky smile on his face. It had been a long time since they’d seen Paul smile; it seemed foreign on his face.

“Did you have a good holiday?” Kara asked.

Paul answered that it was quiet but surprisingly good as Stacy waked in. “Hey Mr. Blofis,” she started but froze looking at the back of the room. The three girls weren’t the only students in the class. Stacy’s mouth fell open and tears pooled in her eyes. Two more students walked into the class and also froze making Michie and Kara turn and look.

“Oh my god,” Kara gasped. Michie just stared not knowing what to say. By this point there was a crowd at the door. No one dared move a muscle but it wasn’t for fear that what they saw wasn’t real; it was just pure shock really.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Kyle and Eric pushed past people to get to the front. “What the hell.”

He really should have seen this coming, should have taken Annabeth’s advice and given them some kind of warning. Paul smirked at him from his desk because he had completely sided with the daughter of Athena, as had his mom and… basically everyone else.

“Hey, guys,” Percy said from where he sat at his usual seat at the back of the class room as if it was just a normal school day and he hadn’t been away for months. Oh, and as if he didn’t look like shit because he had just come back from one of the most dangerous quests ever not that long ago. And Tartarus, let’s never forget Tartarus. He tried for a smile. No way in hell he was going to tell the truth, nothing but the truth, oh gods help him.


End file.
